Female Tennō
*Note: Before you begin reading this, I must explain one term: tennō. This is the Japanese title for the reigning monarch. It's particularly significant when talking about Japanese empresses, since there have been many empresses (wives of the emperor) throughout Japanese history, but only six female tennō. Strikingly, all six of them ruled during the Asuka-Nara period between 592 and 770. Why did women rule so frequently during such a short time, and never again afterwards? None of the articles or books that we read in my history class ever explained this phenomenon, so for my first paper topic I researched female tennō. I learned a lot of fascinating things about them, and I think I even found a real answer to my question. Here are the results!
